Principal
Whitney Featherstone
Whitney Featherstone established Shore Dance in 2008. She grew up in Palmerston North, training at the Maureen Ax School of Dance in ballet and jazz since the age of 3. In 2006, she moved to Auckland to complete a Bachelor of Dance at AUT University, for which she received the Top Academic Scholar award in 2009. During this time, she also completed her RAD Advanced 2 examination and became a Royal Academy of Dance Registered Teacher. Whitney has achieved her NZAMD Solo Diploma in both jazz and ballet, and is now a registered NZAMD and AJDA teacher, living with her husband and three children on the North Shore.
Tap Teacher
Jo Smith
Jo started ballet at 4 and tap at age 5. She received Honours in all her examinations. (BBO ballet through to Grade 5 and BBO Tap in all levels including the coveted Solo Seal. Jo competed from the age of 6 in NZ Tap Competitions (for around 10 years) mostly in the lower half of the North Island, She also danced in the Lotto Ads, and performed in 42nd Street whilst living in Wellington. She has worked as a tour leader throughout many countries around the world, and as a Police Officer, however after having her own wee girl, has decided she rejoin the dance scene. She has spent the last few months training and brushing up on the NZAMD American Tap Syllabus, as well as taking relief tap classes at friend’s dance schools. She has a huge passion for tap dancing, especially being able to make so much noise with her feet!! A skill she feels everyone will love!! Dancing is a passion she looks forward to sharing with her own little girl, as well as the students at Shore Dance.
Ballet Teacher
Kezia Crawford
Kezia Crawford was born and raised in Zimbabwe, and it was here, at the age of 3, that her dance journey began. She studied classical ballet, working through the RAD levels and eventually joining the National Ballet of Zimbabwe in their junior programme at the age of 13. She danced with the National Ballet of Zimbabwe for 5 years, in that time making her way up to the senior company, before leaving Zimbabwe in 2005 to move to New Zealand. Here, she completed her RAD Teaching Certificate and Bachelor of Dance at AUT University, graduating as Top scholar in 2007. After completing a one year internship with DANZ, she continued to focus on teaching at Devonport School of Dance, where she had completed her Advanced 2 and teacher training. She has been teaching for Christine Snowball at Devonport School of Dance for the past 10 years, offering classes in both RAD ballet and NZAMD Contemporary. She is really looking forward to joining the Shore Dance family and meeting all the wonderful students she has heard so much about!
Ballet, Contemporary, Jazz Teacher
Hannah Tang
Hannah is a certified Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) ballet teacher and a current undergraduate of University of Auckland, Dance Studies. Hannah started learning ballet at the age of 4 and has completed her RAD examinations till Advanced 1. Aside from ballet, she is also trained in contemporary dance. Hannah has danced in many works with Republic Polytechnic Modern Dance and National University of Singapore Dance Ensemble. She has also competed in various dance competitions such as the Asian Grand Prix Hong Kong and Get the Beat Singapore.
Hannah has taught syllabus and non-syllabus ballet at The Ballet Academy Singapore and has choreographed for recitals, competitions, and workshops. She has worked with dancers of all age groups and is passionate about teaching and helping her students achieve their full potential. She always strives to create a learning environment where students are comfortable and confident.
Tap, Jazz, Ballet, PBT Teacher
Emma Neill
Hi I’m Emma! I’m so happy to join the Shore Dance family this year teaching tap!! I started dance at the age of 4 and have done it ever since, doing ballet, jazz, tap and contemporary as well as a range of dance comps. I love teaching dance and am now currently studying a Bachelor of Dance Studies to be a better dance teacher!
Looking forward to what the year brings
Lots of love xxx
Jazz Teacher
Elleen Davids
Elleen began her dance journey at the age of 5 at a local dance studio in Feilding. Over the years, she developed a strong passion for dance and completed all of her NZAMD Jazz exams. At 18, she transitioned from student to teacher, sharing her love for dance with others. Elleen has owned and operated two dance studios: el-lean back school of dance in Feilding, and Eternity Dance in Glenfield, for the past 14 years. Throughout this time, she has taught a wide range of students, from children as young as 4 to adults, specializing in jazz and hip hop. A trained primary school teacher, Elleen combines her teaching expertise with her love of dance to create a welcoming and inclusive environment for all her students. She believes that anyone can dance and strives to make every class enjoyable and accessible to everyone. Elleen is excited to join the Shore Dance family, bringing her wealth of experience, passion, and enthusiasm to share with the next generation of dancers.
Contemporary Teacher
Minami Otaki
Minami is a current undergraduate of University of Auckland, Dance Studies. Minami started training in Chinese dance & ballet at the age of 3 at Dance Ensemble Singapore before moving into contemporary dance. She has performed in many works with Republic Polytechnic Modern Dance and trained in The Human Expression (T.H.E) Second Company’s Training Initiative (SCTI). Minami has also trained and performed in Hiroshima, Japan with Dance Studio Flex. She is passionate about teaching and helping her students to their highest potential. She always strives to create a fun and enjoyable learning environment for her students.
Jazz Teacher
Phoenix Rockell
Phoenix has been dancing at Shore Dance since she was 3 years old. She started in ballet class, but then switched to jazz and has been doing jazz ever since. In 2020, she picked up contemporary and has never looked back. She also joined lyrical, further expanding her dance experience. In 2024, she was a jazz assistant teacher at Shore Dance as well as joining the DanceStep student teacher program. She is so excited to be teaching jazz this year so that she can share the joy she has found through dance!
Jazz & Competition Teacher
Charlie Gilmour
ACharlie began her training in 2007 at the Maureen Ax School Of Dance in Palmerston North, where she trained under Maureen Ax, Louise Baker and Brooke Parsons. Upon completion, Charlie was offered a full scholarship to Village Nation Performing Arts in Sydney, Australia where she trained under Jacqui Howard and Wayne Aspinall.
Charlie has worked as a performer on ‘The Voice Australia’, with Joe Jonas, Kelly Rowland, Delta Goodrem and Boy George. She was also a dancer for the launch of ‘SBS Football World Cup’ and was part of the live filming for an Australian tv show, ‘Dance Boss’.
She had accepted a dance contract in Greece with Remarc Agency for 2020 however stayed home due to Covid.
In her return to New Zealand, Charlie has been choreographing, teaching and adjudicating nationwide while also working in ‘Unity Dance Company’, based in Wellington.
Hip Hop Teacher
Somi Park
Somi started dancing at a very young age with jazz and Kpop. Over the years, as her passion grew for dance, she picked up both contemporary and hip hop. Through high school, she completed jazz addict intermediate 2, lucidity contemporary level 9 and urban ignition hip hop level 10, as well as placing in many national competitions for hip hop including HHU and Impact. She has been teaching for the past 5 years, hip hop crews, jazz and contemporary classes and still continues to teach hip hop and kpop crews and classes in a local studio. With the love of dance and teaching, she is currently in her third year studying a Bachelor of Dance Studies at UOA.
Admin / Uniform Shop & Relief Teacher
Bronwyn Murray-Yates
Coming Soon
Tap Competition Teacher
Lucy Thorne
Lucy has spent most of her 19 years in a dance studio or on the stage! Starting when she was just 3 years old, Lucy trained in all different styles and began dance competitions until the age of 15. Nowadays she spends most of her time rehearsing for theatrical productions with Encore Theatre Collective or studying at AUT for her nursing degree. She is very excited to teach tap to everyone at Shore Dance and looks forward to meeting everyone!